Child Care Center Feasibility Study in the Baton Rouge, LA Metro Area

Child care in the Baton Rouge metro

The Baton Rouge, LA Metro Area has 31 SBA child care center loans across FY2017 to FY2026, with $14.5 million in gross dollars. Within the metro child care holds third place among 39 classes, and the area stands at 58 of 493 in the ranking by child care loans. The location quotient of 2.07x is the notable figure: child care takes over twice its national share of the area's SBA lending. Median size, $334,300, is 0.74x the nationwide median for centers, while loans in the central half lie from $242,150 to $665,000. We describe these without calling any of them distinctive.

Holders, brands and the parish

None of the loans is franchise-affiliated (0.00%), so the centers are independent. East Baton Rouge Parish accounts for 15 of the loans. BankFirst Financial Services appears with 5 loans in the 7(a) program, worth $2.4 million, as SBA records the holder; that is a holding and not a statement about its practices. The cell prints no breakdown by SBA program, as one program lacks the loans to support it.

One year and two withheld rates

Among 31 loans, FY2024 is the only year with enough volume to print, at 7 loans and $2.5 million. Other years stay blank, which is not the same as zero. Cancellation and charge-off rates for East Baton Rouge Parish's 31 loans are withheld, because the FY2017 to FY2021 cohort sits below Loan Analytics' 30-loan requirement.

What a child care study has to test

The concentration implied by the 2.07x location quotient does not tell a borrower that another center will fill. A study has to test enrollment demand within a drive of the proposed address, licensed capacity against the building, staffing ratios, and tuition set against local wages for the workforce. At a median of $334,300 and a middle half ending at $665,000, many projects are conversions or leased buildouts, so lease length and the cost of required safety work matter to the budget. Debt service should be tested through a slow fill. In-home providers and centers share one code, meaning the data cannot separate them. A loan counts here by project county on the July 2023 delineation. The study should also count licensed seats within a short drive of the address, so that the enrollment forecast rests on seats that are actually available.